Pikmin 1 vs 2 vs 3

Pikmin 3 is here, and it is fantastic! But after completing it, a question has plagued my mind for quite a while now: Just which of the excellent trilogy is the best? In order to discover the truth, I have decided to dissect each of the important categories of each game and determine a winner. The end result is incredibly close, but I feel confident with it. Hope you enjoy : )

Pikmin 1 vs 2 vs 3

The Actual Pikmin

Let’s start with the very core of the series: The little adorable Pikmin themselves. The first Pikmin started players off with the traditional red, blue and yellow varieties. Their versatility and varying degrees of usefulness are what make every game in the series so strategic. Even better, each of the three main Pikmin are all equally balanced in use. Aside from their obvious elemental advantages, they are each required for certain areas of combat as well. Red are formidable warriors, blue have higher defense, and yellow can reach the harder to hit areas of an enemy more easily.

In Pikmin 2 and 3 the series introduced two new Pikmin types respectively. Purple and White were used in the sequel. The white could be used as kamikaze Pikmin by poisoning any enemy that devoured them, while purple were incredibly useful to temporarily stun more traditional enemies. In Pikmin 3, winged Pikmin were introduced to reach flying enemies, however despite the fact that they are adorable they fare worse in combat. Rock Pikmin carry a similar stun property to the Purple Pikmin, but it is less effective. In the end, Pikmin 2 takes the crown for the incredibly useful purple Pikmin type. They should essentially be used on every single main enemy aside from elemental based ones and boss battles. They are a tad overpowered, but the fact still remains that purple and white were more useful than winged and rock.

WINNER: Pikmin 2

Story Mode

The first Pikmin is considered by many to be one of the best games for speedrunners. Progress within the game is limited by the thirty day time limit which prompts players to retrieve all pieces of their broken ship before time runs out. While it is excellent material for speedrunning, the time clock limits a players ability to play at a leisurely pace — An ability that a game as pretty, and atmospheric as Pikmin needs to possess.

This narrows it down to Pikmin 2 and 3 once more. Pikmin 2 is a massive game, and may take the longest of the three to complete. There are dozens of treasures to collect, and players can find them at whatever pace they wish. The addition of caves also widened the scale ten fold compared to the first game, including many more enemies and a much more difficult quest. The game also included a great swerve toward the end that made players believe the quest was over before embarking within the toughest locale of all: The Wistful Wild. However, despite the fact that Pikmin 2 was a beast, the addition of caves and their various levels hurt the pacing of the game. Players had to endure several load times, and the environments also took a hit in variance. More than 50% of the game was explored underground.

Pikmin 3 is the perfect marriage of both its predecessors. The caves were removed in order to expand the gorgeous locations on a massive scale. And while it does seem that the game features less difficult segments compared to the second, the bosses are more unique and difficult overall. Between this combination of amazing locations, fun boss fights and more variety, Pikmin 3, overall, has the strongest story mode.

WINNER: Pikmin 3

Bosses

Few fans will argue that the original Pikmin had the best array of boss fights. For starters, there were very few of them and they were easier to dispatch compared to the titans of the sequel. Pikmin 2, on the other hand, may feature the most boss fights in the series thanks to the inclusion of fourteen caves, however, while these were formidable opponents, most of them could be defeated by bruit force alone. There were exceptions like the final boss, Titan Dweevil, but Pikmin 2’s boss battles were more impressive to look at than they were to fight. That leaves Pikmin 3. The third entry indicates that only six of the fights are actually considered boss fights, but each of these take a considerable amount of strategy and are ingeniously designed. Pikmin 3 wins for quality over quantity.

WINNER: Pikmin 3

Areas

Again, the original Pikmin was there to help us learn the ropes. It established the franchise and what it could do, but beyond that, it wasn’t impressive compared to its sequels. This series is one that has evolved with each new entry. Pikmin 2 featured larger areas, but it was the addition of caves that really expanded the size of the game. If each cave and its many levels count as an area, then Pikmin 2 easily has the largest geography in the series. However, size doesn’t always matter. Pikmin 3 has what are inarguably the largest main areas of the game, and each is gorgeous to look at. In addition, the areas of Pikmin 3 also feature their own cave-like areas — albeit much smaller — which feature no load times at all compared to the second game. Pikmin 3 is the easy winner.

WINNER: Pikmin 3

Replayability

Pikmin 2 is easily the most relaxed of the series. A player can take days to grind an army of Pikmin and soup them up for battle, resulting in easier victories. However, since the heart of Pikmin lies in the moral weight of losing a comrade, it means players are less enticed to replay Pikmin 2 for a better score. The third game in the series is much more welcome to the idea, with gameplay structure that blends the first and two games together quite well. However, given its short length and incredibly speed runner friendly attitude, Pikmin 1 is the title that most players will return to again and again if they wish to perfect their score.

WINNER: Pikmin

Content

Again, the original Pikmin was the beginning of something much greater, so it comes as no shock that its short, sweet and less dense compared to the sequels. Pikmin 2 added in a plethora of new features, including new Pikmin, many more enemies, the caves to explore, and most importantly: upgrades for Olimar and Louie’s suit. Pikmin 3’s attempts to bring the upgrades back seems ultimately useless, especially considering there are far less of them. Pikmin 2 also features the most items for the players to collect, meaning it takes a bit longer to complete 100%. Pikmin 3 puts up a great fight in this category by featuring the largest main areas, but its enemy index is laughable compared to the second game, and it features a disappointing number of missions compared to it.

WINNER: Pikmin 2

The end result is incredibly close. While Pikmin 2 has a bit more to do, and its Pikmin are more useful, Pikmin 3 is a gorgeous, more well designed game. In the end, it all comes down to the most important factor: the story mode. Pikmin 2 is a wonderful experience, but the meat of its campaign — the bosses, areas and pacing — are not quite enough to match the third game’s excellence.

OVERALL WINNER: Pikmin 3

Thanks for reading! Be sure to tell me your favorite in the trilogy below.